Lucy Fallon, 23, has achieved a lot in a relatively short amount of time. Since joining Coronation Street back in 2015, the actress has earned widespread acclaim and several accolades, including two British Soap Awards for Best Actress and Best Female Dramatic Performance. The soap star has also given fans a glimpse into her personal life – taking to social media to reveal some of the health issues she faces. In one post, she alerted fans to her potentially deadly condition.

Thank you inhaler. Saving my life everyday.

Lucy Fallon

The same year she joined Corrie, the actress revealed in a Tweet: “Got a bottle of diet coke, a warm coat and my inhaler…let’s do disssss.”

While no further information was provided at the time, last year, Lucy revealed it “saves her life everyday”, and does so because she has asthma.

In an Instagram story she shared a picture of herself holding an inhaler.

She wrote: “Thank you inhaler. Saving my life everyday. This one is for you.”

Asthma is a common lung condition that causes occasional breathing difficulties.

It affects people of all ages and often starts in childhood, although it can also develop for the first time in adults.

There’s currently no cure, but there are simple treatments that can help keep a person’s symptoms under control so it does not have a big impact on their life.

As the NHS explained, asthma is usually treated by using an inhaler, a small device that lets a person breathe in medicines.

The main types are:

Reliever inhalers – used when needed to quickly relieve asthma symptoms for a short time

Preventer inhalers – used every day to prevent asthma symptoms occurring

Managing the condition can ward off the threat of potentially serious complications.

According to the health body, badly controlled asthma can cause problems such as:

Feeling tired all the time

Underperformance at, or absence from, work or school

Stress, anxiety or depression

Disruption of a person’s work and leisure because of unplanned visits to a GP or hospital

Lung infections (pneumonia)

Delays in growth or puberty in children

“There’s also a risk of severe asthma attacks, which can be life threatening,” added the health site.

According to the Mayo Clinic, during an asthma attack, also called an asthma exacerbation, the airways become swollen and inflamed.

The muscles around the airways contract and the airways produce extra mucus, causing the breathing (bronchial) tubes to narrow.

As the health site explained: “During an attack, you may cough, wheeze and have trouble breathing. Symptoms of a minor asthma attack get better with prompt home treatment.

“A severe asthma attack that doesn’t improve with home treatment can become a life-threatening emergency.”

The key to stopping an asthma attack is recognising the early warning signs and treating an asthma flare-up early, it added.